Nine years ago today

Nine years ago today I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the white blood cells. Even though I have … More

Lifesaving Poems: Boris Pasternak’s ‘Hamlet’

Hamlet   The buzz subsides. I have come on stage. Leaning in an open door I try to detect from … More

Visiting hours

I am visiting the book. We have already been through a lot together, including the part where I killed it and … More

On writing and illness

Reading Arthur W. Frank’s astonishing At the Will of the Body  recently has given me pause to reflect on the relationship … More

Murdering my darling

I have murdered my darling. Like a bird of a certain blue vintage, it is ex, dead, kaput, finished. The … More

Another look at Lux’s ‘An Horatian Notion’

One of my personal, private highlights of last year’s Aldeburgh Poetry Festival was a Sunday morning breakfast hosted by The … More

After Paris

I found two blog posts especially moving in the aftermath of last week’s attacks in Paris, both by the same … More

Finding Sharon Olds’s The Matter of This World

The Collection The Matter of This World: New and Selected Poems (Slow Dancer, 1987)   I found The Matter of … More

Influences: my first reader

  My first reader was a man called Fergus. A friend of a flatmate at university, I never got to … More

Cut through

Cut through to what happens when you listen. Cut through to making it happen, listening for it, failing, then doing … More

New Year letter

Dear Ant Looking forward to 2015 it’s tempting to think it will never reach the heights of 2014. Big mistake. Huge. … More

Poetry highlights of 2014

  I have so much to be grateful for in 2014. The year began in one of my temporary fits … More

‘When I read poetry’: in memory of Mark Strand

I am sad because the great American poet Mark Strand has died. Among the tributes to him in the last … More

The new poem

The poem and I are best friends. For ever. We hold hands in public and spend every spare minute with … More

On poetry and blogging

In preparation for this year’s Aldeburgh Poetry Festival I was asked some questions about my blogging by Festival programmer Dean … More

Ellen Doré Watson’s ‘Be Here First’

Ellen Doré Watson was a new name to me until recently. ‘Be Here First ‘ is a good example of … More

I quit

I am at a thing. A historic thing. (An historic thing? I will never know). Poets are there. Household names. … More

Writing Research Across Borders (a new poem)

I am delighted to have a new poem Writing Research Across Borders (2014): Poster Sessions in Hinterland With thanks to Judi Sutherland … More